Posted by conference on April 11, 2010 under Blog: New Postings, Canadian Records, Innovations Stream, Marketplace, Speakers and Program, Sponsors | 
We’re delighted to announce a number of extras for family historians attending the Ontario Genealogical Society’s Conference 2010.
Friday, 2:00 pm
Marketplace Grand Opening
For the first time at an OGS Conference, there will be a grand opening of Marketplace. We’ve cleared the schedule of lectures on Friday at 2 pm so everyone can participate. Every square inch of display space has been let and we’ll be able to pore through the offerings of a large number of OGS Branches as well as many commercial exhibitors. And to spice things up, we’ll have some fun—and prizes. See you there!
Friday, 5:45 pm
Graduation Ceremony for the National Institute for Genealogical Studies
Ontario is home to what may well be the world’s most successful provider of distance-learning for genealogists, the National Institute for Genealogical Studies, celebrating its tenth anniversary in 2010.
A number of Conference speakers are National Institute faculty or graduates. The latter have completed a 40-course program and are entitled to the designation of PLCGS (Professional Learning Certificate in Genealogical Studies), jointly offered with the Continuing Education Division of the University of St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto.
Please join with other Conference attendees and the National Institute in celebrating its 2010 graduates at a special ceremony to be held Friday at 5:45 pm.
NB: The National Institute has also kindly agreed to sponsor the closing plenary, featuring a tour-de-force lecture by the ever-popular, John Philip Colletta, “Hacks and Hookers and Putting Up Pickles: Snares of Yesteryear’s English”.
Saturday, 12:45 pm and 1:15 pm
Lunchtime Learning Sessions
Also new this year are lunchtime learning sessions on Saturday. During the 90-minute lunch break, there will be two half-hour slots, each of which will feature a 20-minute mini-lecture on what’s new with an important institution or program. So you can grab a fast bite and catch one of the lectures—or if you’re made of sterner stuff, maybe eat on the run and attend two. For your convenience, we’re repeating the two lectures most likely to command large audiences. Here’s the schedule:
12:45 pm and repeated at 1:15 pm
Introducing Genealogists to the New Toronto Public Library Website: Andrew Lofft
12:45 pm and repeated at 1:15 pm
New Developments at FamilySearch: Stephen Young
12:45 pm
Introducing Canada 150: Harry van Bommel
1:15 pm
How OurOntario.ca Can Help You Search Hundreds of Digital Collections: Loren Fantin
Watch for news of more “extras” for Conference 2010 attendees coming soon. There’s still time to be a part of Conference 2010, but a few sessions are full, and others are close, so be sure to register soon.
Posted by conference on March 29, 2010 under Blog: New Postings, Delights Stream, Innovations Stream, Speakers and Program |
Genealogical information about the Hussey family on the REED "Patrons and Performances" website
Buzz is growing about a unique lecture at the upcoming Ontario Genealogical Society’s Conference 2010.
Patrons and Performances: Finding Connections to the Arts in Early Modern England and Wales will be presented by John A. Geck, a doctoral candidate at the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto, and the Jackman Genealogical Research Associate for the Records for Early English Drama (REED).
REED is an international project that examines the historical evidence for early theatre, music, and other entertainment in England and Wales from the 12th to the 18th centuries. In particular REED produces detailed information about patrons of the arts, their roles in society and their genealogy, all of which is fully accessible to the public online. The Patrons and Performances website is an excellent example of what an Internet publication be.
This lecture will demonstrate how genealogists researching their British family histories can use the Patrons and Performances website.
As John Reid recently said in his “Anglo-Celtic Connections” blog, “It’s the kind of presentation I look for as an option when I get tired of the usual genealogical fare.”
So you think your ancestors weren’t connected to the arts? Here are five reasons you might want to sit in on this lecture anyway:
- You’d routinely check your ancestors’ names in other databases, so why not this one? Although the website incorporates research from many centuries, both the overall number and those from the lower gentry (e.g. guild members) increase significantly in the later years where you’re most likely to be researching.
- Patrons and Performances has a lot of information on places where our ancestors lived—and amused themselves. The majority of venues are places like town halls, guildhalls and large county manors where all nearby residents were welcome for performances and which were undoubtedly familiar to your ancestors in their hometowns.
- There’s a keyword search that allows you to look for parishes and manors, etc., and find patrons associated with your ancestor’s home. The fate of that patron—in one case a beheading for raising a rebellion against the king—would certainly have caused some turmoil for everyone in the community.
- Many researchers face problems in bridging the gap between the modern and early modern periods. This lecture will address general strategies for overcoming the problem of sparse records in the 1700s. Even if your ancestors do not appear in the Patrons and Performances database, you may pick up some useful methodological suggestions.
- Finally and perhaps most importantly for many researchers, much of the presentation will focus on the sources REED employed to create the Patrons and Performances website. Even for those whose ancestors were not connected to patron families, the bibliography of both print and online sources may be an invaluable resource.
Consider a step or two off the beaten path to hear about this unique project that uses the best of modern technology and scholarship to make some very old information much easier to use.
Posted by conference on March 15, 2010 under Blog: New Postings, Innovations Stream, Speakers and Program |
Most of us are most definitely NOT power users of our family history software. When in doubt, we just click more insistently. Our most frequently asked question is “Help?”
So when the Friday program for the Ontario Genealogical Society’s Conference 2010 was in development, it seemed obvious we should offer in-depth sessions on popular programs. In particular, we felt that those using RootsMagic and Legacy Family Tree could use some support.
Bill Bienia will present "Working Effectively with RootsMagic".
So on Friday morning at Conference, William H. (Bill) Bienia will present “Working Effectively with RootsMagic”.
RootsMagic users may recognize Bill’s name from mail-lists and message boards, as he is always helping those with questions, especially the tricky ones. Bill is also the person who designed the “Evidence Explained” style-source templates used in RootsMagic.
He is a full-time professional genealogist, who has been involved in Ontario research for over 15 years. He specializes in 18th and 19th century records in early Ontario and in Loyalist ancestry. He also researches records in the New England and northeastern U.S. states for pre-Loyalist families.
Rick Roberts will present "Working effectively with Legacy Family Tree".
On Friday afternoon, Rick Roberts will lead a similar session, “Working Effectively with Legacy Family Tree”, a presentation that is one of his specialties.
Rick’s life-long hobby became his vocation when he co-founded Global Genealogy in 1992 with his wife Sandra, marketing books and other supplies at genealogical conventions and by mail order. In 1996 Rick launched The Global Gazette, a popular online family history magazine. One year later, he began publishing under the imprint Global Heritage Press, which now has more than 350 books in print. Global Print Services was added in 2009, providing professional printing and binding services for self-published authors.
For more information on signing up for these and other sessions at OGS Conference 2010, visit the Friday program page.
Posted by conference on February 15, 2010 under Blog: New Postings, Canadian Records, Innovations Stream, Speakers and Program, Sponsors |
Stephen Young will be part of "New Toronto Research Tools" on Saturday, May 15.
We are pleased to announce that FamilySearch is sponsoring OGS Conference 2010 and is generously underwriting two previously unannounced appearances at the Conference by one of its most experienced project managers, Stephen C. Young, MA, AG.
Stephen will participate in both the “New Toronto Research Tools” session on Saturday afternoon and will also deliver a newly scheduled lunchtime learning lecture on new developments at FamilySearch, also on Saturday.
Stephen is no stranger to southern Ontario, having been born and raised in London. Indeed he has an ancestor buried in the Toronto Necropolis, one of the cemeteries in the Toronto Trust group (more on which below).
His interest in family history extends back to the late 1970s. After undergraduate studies at Brigham Young University, he obtained his Master’s in American History at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. An employee of the LDS Church since 1988, Stephen enjoyed a four year appointment (1992-1996) in England supervising the British 1881 Census Project. His current responsibilities (in Salt Lake City, Utah) entail working with archives and other genealogical organizations, such as OGS, in the cooperative indexing and publication online of historical records in Canada, the British Isles and the South Pacific.
And that’s how Stephen comes to be part of “New Toronto Research Tools”. As many members will be aware, a FamilySearch Indexing project is now well under way with Toronto Branch to index the records of the Toronto Trust Cemeteries, including the York General Burying Ground, Toronto Necropolis, Prospect and Mount Pleasant. Indeed Stephen was not only instrumental in getting the project off the ground, he is also one of our volunteer indexers.
One of the quirkiest things that could conceivably happen to any researcher is to find that one of your ancestors was responsible for the death of a colleague’s ancestor. That happened to Stephen when he discovered that his fifth great-grandfather, Henry Windecker, had reportedly killed the colleague’s ancestor during the Revolutionary War. Stephen told the story in his article: “Henry Windecker, U.E., and His Descendants.” Families 48, No. 1 (February 2009): 24-29, 18.
If Stephen weren’t busy enough already, he’s also researching and writing a book about his father’s experience in the Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve during World War II, including service on a minesweeper off Omaha Beach on the night and morning of the D-Day assault.
Welcome home, Stephen!
Posted by conference on February 4, 2010 under Blog: New Postings, Innovations Stream, Speakers and Program, Sponsors |
Lesley Anderson of Ancestry.ca
Conference speaker Lesley Anderson has sent the happy news that Ancestry will provide free on-site access to their worldwide databases for attendees at the Ontario Genealogical Society’s Conference 2010.
This commitment is part of a larger agreement whereby Ancestry.ca becomes a top-level sponsor of the Conference.
Other benefits to attendees include:
- an Ancestry-sponsored luncheon on Friday, featuring a presentation by Lesley on New Projects at Ancestry (special ticketed event)
- sponsorship of the Conference bag
- an Ancestry display in Marketplace
These commitments by Ancestry are in addition to Lesley’s previously announced two-hour workshop, Working Effectively with Ancestry.
Lesley brings a wealth of genealogical and family history research experience to Conference 2010. She has been pursuing her own family history for more than 35 years. (Yes she started as a teenager!) A director of BIFHSGO, Lesley shares her enthusiasm for genealogy by teaching courses through the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board’s Continuing Education Department and she’s been a long time volunteer with the Ottawa Stake Family History Center.
For the past 2-1/2 years, Lesley has enjoyed being the Canadian representative for Ancestry.ca. Her primary responsibility is to develop strategic relationships with content providers across Canada to acquire new Canadian historical records. She has made several radio and television appearances on behalf of Ancestry.ca. Check out her TV spot on Canada AM.
Lesley collaborated with fellow Conference speaker Glenn Wright to develop and present Ancestry.ca’s first Canadian Webinar on the Historic Canadian Census Collection—1851 to 1916.
She contributes a monthly column, called “Discovering Your Roots”, to the CanWest chain of newspapers, appearing in the Ottawa Citizen, Windsor Star, Winnipeg Free Press and Calgary Herald to name a few.
We are delighted to acknowledge both Lesley and Ancestry.ca’s contributions to Conference 2010.
Posted by conference on December 26, 2009 under Blog: New Postings, Innovations Stream, Speakers and Program |
Rick Crume, the runner.
Pretend for a moment you live in Glyndon, Minnesota (population 1,155), just miles from the North Dakota state line. Imagine further you have ancestry in New England and the Mid-Atlantic States, as well as New Brunswick and the British Isles. Welcome to the world of Rick Crume, a genealogist since age 14, and by necessity a leading expert in online resources and the holdings of distant repositories.
In fact Rick is author of Plugging Into Your Past: How to Find Real Family History Online. He also created the Genealogical Library Master Catalog, which lists the genealogy holdings of many American libraries. He will give four lectures at Conference 2010 on different aspects of these areas of expertise.
A sixth-generation Minnesotan, Rick studied at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and spent his junior year studying in Bogotá, Colombia. Later he learned that his distant relative John H. Pennington, who lived in Glyndon in the 1880s, also lived in Bogotá in the 1890s while building a railroad in Colombia. Rick further discovered that Pennington married a Colombian woman, having neglected to divorce his American wife first. So in 1895 Colombian authorities charged him with bigamy and unsuccessfully sought his extradition.
Rick seems to be a more upstanding fellow than his distant relative. As you can see from the photo, he is a competitive runner (almost 700 miles this year). More relevant to our immediate concerns, he is a contributing editor for Family Tree Magazine and has written for Family Chronicle, Internet Genealogy and Discovering Family History magazines, as well as society journals in the U.S., New Brunswick and Wales. While you’re unlikely to be able to visit him in Minnesota, you can drop into his informative website any day: http://onelibrary.com.
Posted by conference on November 13, 2009 under Blog: New Postings, Essentials Stream, Innovations Stream, Speakers and Program |
Lisa Louise Cooke will share her multimedia expertise at OGS Conference 2010.
It’s not every day you get a chance to meet a podcaster and blogger with no electricity or running water. You’ll have that opportunity when Lisa Louise Cooke speaks at the Ontario Genealogical Society Conference 2010.
OK, we exaggerate, slightly, about the electricity and running water.
In 2006, motivated by her lifelong passion for history, Lisa starred in the PBS eight-hour history miniseries, Texas Ranch House. She had the opportunity to live in West Texas with her family for three months on a 400,000-acre cattle ranch with no electricity or running water, as in 1867. Lisa says, “It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to not only see what is was like for my great great grandparents who lived in Texas in 1867, but also a unique opportunity to bring my own 21st-century sensibilities to the same environment and find a way to survive.”
Usually Lisa can be found in the San Francisco Bay area producing and hosting both the Genealogy Gems Podcast and the Family History: Genealogy Made Easy podcast, two “online genealogy radio shows” available through her web site www.genealogygems.TV and iTunes. Her podcasts and website strive to help listeners make the most of their family history research time by providing innovative ideas and fascinating interviews with genealogy experts. Needless to say, genealogical podcasting is one of Lisa’s lecture topics at Conference 2010.
Lisa also inspires her audience to creatively share their findings with their families through creative projects and motivational stories. In her book Genealogy Gems: Ultimate Research Strategies, she offers how-to instructions for all of the gems featured in the first season of the show. And she provides daily doses of genealogy news and fun to readers with her Genealogy Gems News Blog.
As if this weren’t enough for the average dynamo, Lisa also writes for Family Tree Magazine, hosts the magazine’s podcast and produces videocasts for Family History Expos.
Lisa will deliver three lectures on Saturday at Conference 2010. We guarantee there will be plenty of electricity in the room (but hopefully no running water).
